Case Name :      Right Clients, Right Way: Successes and Challenges of Brand Consultant Tommy Li

Authors :           Kevin Au, Bernard Suen, Na Shen, Justine Tang

Source :             Ivey Publishing

Case ID :            W10006

Discipline :        General Management

Case Length :    12 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

Tommy Li was a designer and brand consultant renowned for his black humour and bold visual impact. With business spanning Hong Kong, China, Macau, Japan and Italy, he was one of the few Hong Kong designers to have entered the international market. In his ten years of experience as a design staff member, Li learned that “getting the right client is the key to a successful design consultancy business.” Therefore, Li set up his own company to have full freedom in choosing his own clients, and his “choosing clients strategically” philosophy brought him great success. Consequently, he became a famous Hong Kong designer and brand consultant with reputable local and overseas clients. With international firms many times bigger than Li’s firm entering China, Li saw mounting competitive pressure. Was Li’s stardom an adequate defence against firms composed of multidisciplinary teams equipped with innovation-driven design thinking and processes? Was scale a critical issue in staying competitive? Was proximity to the market an important advantage?The brand consulting industry also faced intense competition from international business consultancies, advertising and public relations agencies. Each camp used a different approach to target the same group of brand-conscious clients. Could Li cope with these challenges?The case was developed to teach designers and design entrepreneurs. It is also suitable for MBA and other executive classes on entrepreneurship and creative business. This case is intended to achieve the following objectives: 1) study how strategic thinking guided Li to develop his design business despite changing market conditions 2) understand how path dependence and dynamic capabilities explain Li’s success and challenges in a changing business environment 3) discuss the best approach to grow a design business – building methodology and processes or becoming a star in new markets.